Mother Dearest
by poisonedship
Summary: Steve is officially in a relationship with Kono. Steve is officially also living with his mother. This cannot go well. Established McKono. Spoilers for S3.


A/N: A little fic that came together thanks to a post made by **tvfanatic97** on tumblr about Steve living with his mom, something originally mentioned by **quisinart4** in 'It started with a whisper'. Mahalo and credit to both for the idea!

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Stretching languishingly, Kono reaches over Steve's still form to the bedside table for the bottle of water that is usually there. Tonight, it was empty, and she collapses onto his back in disappointment because now it meant that she will have to get up, put on some clothes and fetch herself some water from downstairs before being able to sleep again.

Groaning, she slips out of bed and picks up Steve's discarded shirt from the floor, pulling it on just when she hears the rustling of sheets behind her and a hand brush the back of her bare thigh.

"Where are you going?" Steve asks sleepily, turning his head to look at her from his position on his front. His eyes were barely open and his hair was tousled from sleep and her hands.

"Get some water." she tells him, rubbing his shoulder and turning away to head downstairs. The quicker she left and the less time she spent looking at his delectable self, the quicker she could go back and she could do more than just _look_ at him.

Padding down the hallway, Kono yawns and runs a hand through her own messy hair. She steps down the first set of stairs without thinking before pausing when she sees light emitting from the other room. Peering over the railing, her eyes widen at the sight of the woman sitting at the table with her back towards her. All thoughts about water, thirst, or anything other than to run, escapes her mind as Kono turns on her heel and rushes back up the stairs, doing her best to be as stealthy as she can and not to trip over her own feet.

Speed walking into the bedroom, she shuts the door behind her and locks it quietly, letting out the breath she didn't know she has been holding.

"What's wrong?" Steve asks, turning onto his back to look at her in confusion in the moonlight. Kono swallows and tiptoes to the bed, crawling onto it on her side to look down at him.

"Your mom's downstairs." she tells him in a harsh whisper. Confusion colours Steve's face as he props himself up onto his elbows.

"Did she say something?" he asks warily. Doris McGarrett was a nice enough woman, but she didn't have the best interpersonal skills all of the time. If Kono was honest, she could see the genetic familiarity between her and her son in that instance.

"You _knew?!"_ Kono accuses him instead, eyes wide in shock. Steve looks at her funnily at her words, tilting his head to side when he speaks slowly.

"She kinda lives here now, Kono. You know that." he reminds her, to which she nods, narrowing her eyes at the reminder that her boyfriend currently lives with his mother. It was almost as bad as when Danny stayed over, and certainly worse than when Mary Ann did.

"But she wasn't here earlier." she clarifies, shoving him lightly in the shoulder, causing him to fall back onto the bed against the pillows as he sits up against the headboard.

"She came home. What's the problem?" he questions, clearly getting irritated by the confusion that he was experiencing by something Kono thought was pretty straight forward. Sighing, she rubs her hands over her face before explaining it to him in the simplest terms she can think of.

"'What's the problem?' Steve! I almost walked down there in nothing but this flimsy shirt! I could have given her a peepshow!" she tells him, voice gradually increasing until she notices and shuts up, just as another thought pops into her mind in relevance to her speaking. "Oh my god, how long has she been back? What if she heard?" she asks in worry, keeping her voice low. Steve stares at her for a moment, eyebrows raised.

"Heard, what? Us having sex? I think my mother knows what happens when you stay the night." he says in amusement, a small smile puling at his lips that she thinks is supposed to be reassuring but really isn't.

"Ignorance is bliss." she snaps, getting up before crawling into bed next to him, laying on her back to stare at the ceiling in dread. Getting along with any boyfriend's mother is hard enough sometimes, but with Steve's mother? Its a mission, one she thought she was doing pretty well at until now. Now, all she could think about was the awkwardness it might lead to. "You should have reminded me. I really forgot she might be here."

"I did try to tell you to be quieter." he shrugs, sliding further down into the bed so that he's eye to eye with her when he leans on an elbow to hover over her slightly. She vaguely remembers him hushing her whilst kissing her, but the memory is easily replaced by the burning trails his hands left over her body, the feel of his smooth, cool skin against hers and the warmth of passion he had elicited from within her into obvious moans and cries.

"Should have tried harder." she mutters, glaring at him when he smirked in reply.

"I don't like you quiet." he murmurs, sliding his free hand over her waist on top of the sheets to curve around her hip to let him lean into her slowly, lips brushing her cheek softly. "Stop worrying about it. If she's still up, she probably just got back." he reasons, fingers from his other hand clearing away her hair from her neck before she feels him nuzzle it with a light nip of his teeth followed by the soothing of his tongue.

"Yeah, maybe." she sighs and gasps when he repeats the action but a bit higher up in the one place that he knows if the most sensitive part of her neck. "Hmm, no. Steve." she tries, pushing at him lightly as he peppers kisses along her neckline and up her jaw to her mouth. She can feel him against him, feel him physically and sensually, and she knows what will follow if she doesn't stop him. "Steve!" she says again, pulling away and pursing her lips to show that she's serious.

"Fine." he sighs, pulling away and dropping back to his side of the bed. Kono waits a few minutes until it sounds like he's falling into sleep before curling up next to him, head on his shoulder and arm on his chest, and following him into slumber.

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Kono wakes up to an empty bed the next morning. Knowing that Steve would likely be on his run, she gets up and pulls on some pajama bottoms and a tank top before going downstairs. She can't see, or hear, anything, and she thinks that she's made it clear for the moment until she steps into the kitchen and Doris speaks up from the table in the other room.

"Morning, Kono." she greets happily, sipping a cup of coffee. Kono spins to look at her and puts on the most realistic smile she can fake without making it obvious that she was trying to gage whether or not the older woman was any the wiser about the previous night.

"Morning." she replies, not reading anything off of her. Then again, she was a CIA operative. Kono goes to pour herself some coffee when she hears her enter the kitchen to deposit her cup into the sink.

"There's some breakfast in the microwave, too." Doris tells her to her surprise, smiling softly at her.

"Oh. Thanks." she says, taking the plate of eggs, toast and bacon from the microwave and taking it to the table with her. "You were up early?" she asks over her shoulder in an attempt to make conversation and not make it seem like she was running away from the woman who was harder to read than her son.

"Its a habit. After 20 years by myself, its nice to be able to do something with the time and cook for someone else." she shrugs and leans in the doorway between the two rooms and the smile that still graces her face lightly has Kono suspicious but she's sure as hell not going to be the one to bring it up when all she wants to do it run away. She's actually amazed at how well she's handling it - not blushing or stuttering or hyperventilating.

"Steve needs it. Half the time, I'm pretty sure he only eats because mealtimes have been drilled into him." she jokes with a roll of the eyes, digging into her food after downing half of her coffee.

"He seems to listen to you though. You take good care of him." Doris says with a nod, and Kono looks up at her and shakes her head.

"Someone has to." she says offhandedly. She sees the smile on her face slip a bit and it hits her how her words could have been taken by the absent mother. Although Kono didn't trust Doris 100 percent or wasn't wary of her, and she was sure that Doris felt the same way about her, she had to admit that she had been trying in the effort to try to reconnect with Steve, and if he was accepting of it, there was nothing Kono could do but be happy for him. From a distance just in case. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that!" she quickly corrects herself apologetically. Doris waves off her words and stands up straight in the doorway.

"That's ok. I think we both know that we take care of him in _very different_ ways." she says, words both casual and slightly snippy at the same time. Kono pauses with the coffee halfway to her lips, struck frozen by shock, because was she hinting at what she thought she was hinting at?

"I- Uh-" she tries to get out, but the blushing, stuttering and hyperventilating have decided to catch up with her finally.

"I'm going to head out to Maui later today so I need to go do some shopping first. Let Steve know, would you? And don't worry; I won't be back for at least a day." Doris assures her in amusement, walking past her and tapping her shoulder affectionately. "Have a good weekend." she says before leaving the room and Kono finally regains the ability to function when she realises that yes, she did mean what she thought she had meant. Putting down her coffee, she buries her face in her hands, unable to get rid of the thought of the previous night, now only marred by the additional thought of Steve's mom having heard her. It ruined everything about it, and she's pretty sure she would never be able to have sex again in this house again.

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A/N: I am thinking of making this a series of one shots about how Steve living with his mother interrupts, effects, changes, or just might complicate McKono's relationship. Do you think I should carry on? Do you have any ideas or prompts? Please let me know!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


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